Radivoje Kalajdzic

Bio

Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic is a Serbian-born American light-heavyweight with thirty wins, twenty-two of them by knockout, and three defeats. He is not a name most British fans know well. That is about to change, and probably not in a way anybody at the Copper Box will enjoy.

Born on 27 July 1991, Kalajdzic has twice fought for a world light-heavyweight title — for the IBF belt in 2019 and for the vacant WBA regular title in 2024. Losing those fights is not the headline. Getting to them twice, from an American domestic scene that does not hand out opportunities, is.

What makes him genuinely dangerous is the recent form. He arrives in London off a knockout win over Oleksandr Gvozdyk, a former WBC world champion at the weight, and he has shared a ring with Artur Beterbiev — which means he has felt the hardest punching this division has produced in twenty years and carried on.

He is tall, rangy and awkward, he carries his power into the late rounds, and he has built a habit of turning up in other people’s home towns and spoiling the night. On September 26 he meets Craig Richards in the chief support at the Copper Box, and he is not there to make up the numbers.